May 6, 2011

Blade and Soul Closed Beta Review (Part 1)

Formalism, plagiarism and nudity, have become the biggest characteristics of new online games in the current South Korean market. To be frank, games of western fantasy style in the current South Korean market usually involve too many unreal factors, which are against the thoughts of eastern players. But on April 27th, when NCsoft's Blade & Soul, the most anticipated game in South Korean began its first CBT, it refreshed the real meaning of "the most anticipated".

Novel but a little unfamiliar controls

Blade & Soul is unique in point of controls. First, compared with other online games, it reduces the quantity of operational keys. The number of keys for moving and fighting is 11 in all and there are less than 15 frequently-used keys in the game, including the ones for items and others . Apart from above, more than 10 skill key bindings are designed. But don't worry. You won't use them all at the same time.

In a word, the key operation system is new and unfamiliar, which was shown by NCsoft at G-Star 2010 last year.

11 frequently-used keys are used for running, jumping, kicking and etc.

Blade & Soul also uses several key combinations to realize the special Qinggong system. For example, by double clicking "F", players can make their characters run in the gesture of flying. By use of other skill combinations, they can control their characters to jump on eaves, walk on walls, descend, or even burrow underground. Not only that, for the consideration of reality, NCsoft but also brings natural reflex system into this game. For instance, if players don't enable descending skill when their characters are falling down quickly, their characters would probably fall to death.

Some players may worry that it may confuse players to have so many key-combinations for Qinggong. But just as old saying goes "practice makes perfect", I think every player will be familiar with them after more practice. Besides, all key-combinations for Qinggong are the same for every class and race in the game, not to mention players can also customize Qinggong keys in line with their own habits through the hotkey settings (the "O" key).

In Blade & Soul, Qinggong is more frequently used than other skills, because this game focuses on the aesthetic feeling, action feeling and tactical use in combat. Therefore it is necessary for players to learn how to use Qinggong to evade and attack.

However, after the first test day, many players still expressed their maladjustment to the new controls.